"Dean Ing - Soft Targets" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ing Dean)

Aligned like cartridges along the belt were twenty black oblongs, somewhat more slender
dominoes. "Unusual packaging," Pelletier said, offering the belt. "But, ah, very practical." Again
smile like an oil slick, bright and wide. And thin.
The visitor nodded and detached one of the black oblongs. The tiny microprocessor boa
eighteen gold-plated prongs down its length on each side, giving it the look of a centipede
Mondrian. "Certified for all functions, you say," he prompted.
"Yes indeed. But there's an exceedingly smart little computer in each one, Mr. Trnka. We c
test every one for every function although I per-sonally supervised random sampling of the e
lot."
"Random? You are telling me that most of the microprocessors are untested," the visitor rep
softly.
"On such short notice, and for such a price . . ." Pelletier displayed his palms.
"Fortunately," said 'Trnka,' "I can test them myself." He took the HP unit from his case, withd
a tiny circuit board with a flimsy cable and IC socket. Pelletier gaped in silence as the HP, the
circuit board, and the microproces-sor were assembled. Lastly, `Trnka' energized the HP and f
a slender tongue of ferrite tape. They watched the alphanumeric display flicker for perhaps tw
seconds.
Pelletier smiled engagingly. "Forgive my curiosity," he wheedled. "It occurred to me that
circuitry could haveтАФunusual applica -tions. "
"Games," was the reply. "We hope to give the Atari people a rude shock."
"I see," said Pelletier, unconvinced. "Something like war games." He flinched at the re-spon
glance. It softened in a flash, but for one harrowing instant Pelletier felt that he gazed into the eye
a Comanche warrior.
At length the HP display stabilized on CONFORME. Silently, `Trnka' substituted ano
microprocessor. "Sixty-three seconds," he said to the restive Pelletier. "It would have taken you
twenty-one minutes to run exhaustive func-tion checks on this group." He was not pleased.
"Mr. Trnka, it will take you seven hours to check them all. May I suggest you simply return
you find faulty?"
"Like this one?" The HP display read OP AMP X.
"It is not easy or conventional to include that operational amplifier in a unit of that size," Pel-l
reminded.
He was answered by a grunt. The faulty cen-tipede was pocketed while another took its pl
Pelletier fidgeted as two more microprocessors were tucked away. At last the belt was reassem
with its seventeen conforming units. `Trnka' snorted softly. "It will be neces-sary to use
telephone."
Pelletier indicated his desk phone and wad-dled out to give the illusion of privacy. `Trnka'
certain his call would be recorded. He had no other reason for the call.
He reached McEvoy with the phone's third buzz. Mr. Trnka was unavoidably detained.
nothing serious. Yes, he was still interested but must delay his trip a few days. Still, they might m
today as planned. Two o'clock? Fine; Slip Three.
Pelletier, in his photoreduction lab, listened to the call while querying his own system at his
computer terminal. The detectors built into his entryway insisted that Mr. Trnka carried rough
kilogram of some dense metallic arti-cle near his left armpit. Pelletier was not sur-prised, but he
perspiring lightly now. How could he have known the salaud would have such a test rig?
considered the alarm button, then the money, which Trnka had promised would be in cash. If T
paid fifty cents on the dollar for such faulty units, Pelletier and his partner would lose littl
Pelletier got more, he could still claim it was fifty, and then Pelletier alone would profit very
indeed.
And the damned Czech expected to be in To-ronto a few more days. Pelletier wondered w
and then heard the conversation end. He allowed the little foreigner, still grafted to his attach├й c